A Summery Spread That's As Cool As A Cucumber

Benedictine is a combination of cream cheese, cucumber and onion. It may sound odd, unless you're from Kentucky.

Erica Peterson
/ WFPL

Listen

Listening...

/

Originally published on July 14, 2013 11:58 am

Cream cheese, cucumber juice and a touch of onion. That may sound like an unlikely combination, but Benedictine is a Kentucky favorite. Gwynne Potts, a self-proclaimed aficionado, says it's delicious.

"The best thing to eat Benedictine on is just white bread," Potts says. "No special bread; it only takes away from the Benedictine."

Potts, who grew up in Louisville, Ky., has been enjoying the creamy combo for six decades. For the first 18 years of her life, she says, Benedictine was like ketchup. She assumed it was eaten everywhere until, as a college student, she took a spring break trip to Florida.

"We couldn't imagine having lunch without Benedictine," Potts says. "We went from store to store, saying, 'Where's your Benedictine?' And they just looked at us. It was the first time I realized the whole world didn't know about Benedictine."

Years later, that's still pretty much the case. But this creamy, cool cucumber spread has persisted in Kentucky ever since Jennie Benedict, a famous Louisville caterer, invented it around the turn of the 20th century.

Benedict opened a tearoom on downtown Louisville's South Fourth Street in 1911. Back then, that was the city's bustling commercial center, packed with stores, cafes, theaters and hotels. Today, it's a few boutiques and several wig shops.

Susan Reigler, a former restaurant critic for Louisville's newspaper, TheCourier-Journal, wrote the introduction to the re-release of Benedict's Blue Ribbon Cook Book in 2008. Reigler says Benedict's role in the city's culinary history was huge and that the roots of many of the city's flavors can be traced back to her recipes.

Of course, some of Benedict's concoctions have fallen out of favor — like calf brains and peptonized oysters for the sick. But Reigler says Benedictine has endured.

"I think it's just very different. It's very refreshing. It's a light spread," she says. "What could be more light and delicate than cucumber juice?"

One source of contention among Louisville chefs is whether to include the two drops of green food coloring that Benedict used in her recipe. The dye lets people know that it's not just a plain cream cheese spread, but the practice is no longer popular with chefs like Kathy Cary, who prefer more natural ingredients.

Cary has owned Lilly's, a restaurant that specializes in Kentucky cuisine, for the past 25 years. For her, the dish is truly a way to showcase both local cucumbers and local traditions.

"Mine is really about ... celebrating the cucumbers," Cary says. "Obviously, no dye, no food coloring. And it's filled with texture, and sort of the crunch of the cucumbers."

Some cooks serve Benedictine as a dip, others as tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off. But Cary usually puts hers into a hearty sandwich with homemade mayonnaise, bacon, bibb lettuce and sprouts.

However you serve it, Benedictine is best accompanied with another Kentucky signature: bourbon.

Recipe: Jennie Benedict's Benedictine

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons cucumber juice

1 tablespoon onion juice

1 teaspoon salt

A few grains of cayenne pepper

2 drops green food coloring

To get the cucumber juice, peel and grate a cucumber, then wrap in a clean dish towel and squeeze juice into a dish. Discard pulp.

Do the same for the onion.

Mix all ingredients with a fork until well-blended (using a blender will make the spread too runny). Serve as a dip or as a sandwich filling.

It's summertime now and a lot of gardens are overwhelmed with cucumbers. Now, you can put cucumbers in salads. You can pickle them. You can use them as cocktail garnish, or for something totally different, you can mix them with cream cheese to create the traditional Louisville spread that's called Benedictine.

Erica Peterson of member station WFPL has more on a classic summer treat that's part of our series, Weekend Picnic.

ERICA PETERSON, BYLINE: It sounds like an unlikely combination: Take cream cheese, combine it with cucumber or cucumber juice and a touch of onion. Make a sandwich or eat it as a dip. That's Benedictine.

GWEN POTTS: This is delicious. It's creamy, it's just chock full with cream cheese.

PETERSON: Gwen Potts takes a bite of the spread. She's a self-proclaimed Benedictine aficionado who's enjoyed the food for six decades.

POTTS: The best thing to eat Benedictine on is just white bread. No special bread. It just takes away from the Benedictine.

PETERSON: Potts grew up in Louisville. She says for the first 18 years of her life, Benedictine was like ketchup. She thought it was everywhere until she took a spring break trip to Florida while in college.

POTTS: We couldn't imagine having lunch without Benedictine. We went from store to store saying where's your Benedictine? And they just looked at us. It's the first time I realize the whole world didn't know about Benedictine.

PETERSON: And years later, that's still pretty much the case. But this creamy, cold cucumber spread has persisted in Kentucky ever since Jennie Benedict invented it around the turn of the 20th Century. Benedict was a famous Louisville caterer. In 1911, she opened a tearoom on South Fourth Street in downtown Louisville.

Back then, that was the city's bustling commercial center packed with stores, cafes, theaters and hotels. Today it's a few boutiques and several wig shops. Susan Reigler and I stop on the street in front of what used to be Benedict's address.

So, that is 554.

SUSAN REIGLER: OK. Obviously not the original building.

PETERSON: Reigler spent a decade as a restaurant critic for Louisville's newspaper, the Courier-Journal. When Jennie Benedict's "Blue Ribbon Cookbook" was re-released a few years ago, Reigler wrote the introduction. She says Benedict's role in Louisville's culinary history was huge, and a lot of the city's flavors can trace their roots back to her recipes. Of course some of Benedict's concoctions have fallen out of favor, like calf brains and peptonized oysters for the sick.

But Reigler says Benedictine has endured.

REIGLER: I think it's just very different. When you think about it, it's very refreshing, it's a light spread if you think about cream cheese and then cucumber juice. What could really be, you know, more light and delicate than cucumber juice?

PETERSON: One source of contention among Louisville chefs is whether to include the two drops of green food coloring that Benedict used in her recipe. The dye lets people know that it's not just a plain cream cheese spread, but it's no longer popular with chefs like Kathy Cary who prefer more natural ingredients.

Cary has owned Lilly's for the past 25 years. It's a restaurant that specializes in Kentucky cuisine and for her the dish is truly a way to showcase both local cucumbers and local traditions.

KATHY CARY: And the way I make mine, mine really about the texture of the cucumbers, celebrating the cucumbers. It's obviously no dye, no food coloring. And it's filled with texture, and some crunch to the cucumbers.

PETERSON: Some serve it in tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off, some of the dip. Cary usually puts hers into a hearty sandwich with homemade mayonnaise, bacon, bibb lettuce and sprouts. It's best accompanied with another Kentucky signature, bourbon. For NPR News, I'm Erica Peterson in Louisville, Kentucky.

SIMON: And you can find a couple of Benedictine recipes on our website and those for other dishes in our series on our website, npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.